''Wonderama'' is a

children's television Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

program that originally appeared on the

Metromedia Metromedia (also often MetroMedia) was an American media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and controlled Orion Pictures from 1988 to 1997. Metromedia was established in 1956 after the DuMon ...

-owned stations from 1955 to 1977. The show was revived from 1980 to 1987, and again in 2016.

Hosts

Al Hodge Albert E. Hodge (April 18, 1912 – March 19, 1979) was an American actor best known for playing space adventurer Captain Video on the DuMont Television Network from December 15, 1950, to April 1, 1955. He played the Green Hornet on radio fro ...

(as Captain Video 1955–1956) *

Jon Gnagy Jon Gnagy (January 13, 1907 – March 7, 1981) was a self-taught artist most remembered for being America's original television art instructor, hosting ''You Are an Artist'', which began on the NBC network and included analysis of paintings from ...

(mid–late 1950s) *

Sandy Becker George Sanford Becker (February 19, 1922 – April 9, 1996), who was known professionally as Sandy Becker, was an American television announcer, actor, and comedian who hosted several popular children's programs in New York City. The best known ...

(1955–56) *

Chuck McCann Charles John Thomas McCann (September 2, 1934 – April 8, 2018) was an American actor, comedian, puppeteer, commercial presenter and television host. He was best known for his work in presenting children's television programming and animation, a ...

(1955–56) *Pat Meikle (co-hosting 1955–1956) * Herb Sheldon (1956–1958) * Bill Britten (co-host in 1958; later known as New York's Bozo the Clown) *Doris Faye (co-host in 1958) * Sonny Fox (1959–1967) * Bob McAllister (1967–1977) *various teenagers (1980–1987) *David Osmond (2017–present)

Original series

''Wonderama'' aired on its originating station,

WNEW-TV WNYW (channel 5) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Secaucus, New Jersey–licensed MyNetworkTV flagship WWO ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, as well as in five other markets in which Metromedia owned television stations:

WTTG WTTG (channel 5) is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outlet WDCA (channel 20). WTTG and WDCA sh ...

in Washington D.C.,

KMBC-TV KMBC-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside The CW, CW affiliate KCWE (channel 29). Both stations share stud ...

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more th ...

KTTV KTTV (channel 11) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV ou ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

, WXIX-TV in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

, and WTCN-TV in Minneapolis – Saint Paul. The show was three hours long for most of its run on Sunday mornings. The show was created as well as originally hosted by actor-comedian

, who became a New York children's program star in his own right. In the 1960s, ''flingorama'' aired in a one-hour weekday version in addition to the three-hour Sunday show. The one-hour program lasted until 1970. The show scaled back to two hours in 1977 before WNEW canceled it in December of that year. The last produced show was taped December 21 before airing on December 25. In an interview on WNEW's local talk show ''Midday with Bill Boggs'' on the day of ''Wonderamas cancellation, host Bob McAllister claimed to have no idea why the show ended. However, in a 1993 interview with the Pennsylvania newspaper ''

The Morning Call ''The Morning Call'' is a daily newspaper in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1883, it is the second longest continuously published newspaper in the Lehigh Valley, after '' The Express-Times''. In 2020, the newspaper permanently closed its ...

'', McAllister stated that an advertisement that he bought in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' telling viewers to stop watching ''Wonderama'' might have led to the program's cancellation. McAllister bought the ''Times'' ad after he became upset when an ad for the 1972

Charles Bronson Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his "granite features and brawny physique," he gained international fame for his starring roles in action, Western, and wa ...

movie '' The Mechanic'' aired during the show. "When I was doing ''Wonderama''," McAllister said, "I always made sure that there was never any violence within the framework of the show. They claimed that the ads were computer programmed, but I didn't buy it. I took out a full-page $10,000 ad in ''The New York Times'' warning parents not to let their children watch the show. Unfortunately, I bummed myself out of broadcasting permanently with that little faux pas, but I still stand by it." After its cancellation, ''Wonderama'' continued in two-hour Sunday morning reruns from January 1978 to June 1980. McAllister reportedly was unhappy with edits to the reruns, which usually eliminated celebrity performances in order to avoid having to pay

royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset o ...

The Sonny Fox years

Independent television network

(born from the former DuMont Network) hired Fox to host ''Wonderama'' on its New York flagship station, WABD (soon to become

), succeeding the team of Bill Britten and Doris Faye. Hiring Fox ended what some called the "musical-hosts syndrome" that ''Wonderama'' had for its first few years. Fox became ''Wonderamas sole host for eight years, until August 1967. Suave, witty, and congenial, Fox juggled the

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such ...

and the serious, turning the marathon ''Wonderama'' (during Fox's tenure the show ran four hours Sunday mornings) into a weekly academy at which anything could happen and often did; whether

Shakespearean William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

dramatizations, guest celebrities, magic demonstrations (customarily by legendary magician James "The Amazing" Randi), art instruction,

spelling bee A spelling bee is a competition in which contestants are asked to spell a broad selection of words, usually with a varying degree of difficulty. To compete, contestants must memorize the spellings of words as written in dictionaries, and recite ...

s, learning games, or other elements. Fox was deft at turning a potential haphazard hodgepodge into a seamless whole, and he was consistent in never talking down to his young guests or viewers, treating them with legitimate respect and tolerance. The result was that ''Wonderama'' was rarely if ever known to have bored either the children who appeared on the show (the segments showing the weekly 25 or 30 children waving cross-armed, leading in and out of

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

breaks, were as much a signature as Fox himself) or those who watched it. For a few years it seemed Fox owned children's weekend television in the New York metropolitan area. In the same year he joined ''Wonderama'', he reached back to the "

color war Color wars is a competition played in summer camps, schools and some social organizations (such as sororities, fraternities, or small businesses). Participants are divided into teams, each of which is assigned a color. The teams compete against ea ...

" team competitions he knew as a child in summer camp to create and host ''Just For Fun'', a two-and-a-half hour Saturday morning show involving two teams of kids in blue and gold jumpsuits to compete in contests ranging from the mildly athletic to the wildly bizarre. One mainstay was the Treasure Chest competition where one contestant from each team would be placed in front of a locked chest and 1,000 keys. When the winner found the key to open his or her chest, a siren would sound, and whatever was happening at the time (be it cartoon, commercial, skit, or whatever else) was interrupted. The winner would stand with arms outstretched and a towering pile of board games and toys would be placed in his or her arms. During this time, Fox made countless personal appearances throughout the New York metropolitan area. The ''Wonderama'' show was featured at the Hollywood Arena at the

Freedomland U.S.A. Freedomland U.S.A. (usually called Freedomland) was a theme park dedicated to American history in the Baychester section of the northeastern Bronx in New York City. Operating from 1960 to 1964, Freedomland was built on marshland owned by the ...

theme park in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

. Several shows at Freedomland were filmed and broadcast on the following Sunday mornings. Fox' memories about his appearances at the theme park are captured in ''Freedomland U.S.A.: The Definitive History'' (Theme Park Press, 2019). Fox also hosted ABC's first original Saturday morning program, ''On Your Mark'', a game show in which children ages 9 through 13 answered questions about various professions. ''On Your Mark'' lasted one season, but the lively ''Just For Fun'' lasted until 1965. Fox has since become an

Emmy award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

-winning producer of his Broadway Songwriters Series, has his own website, and has a "Wonderama with Sonny Fox" Facebook group hosted by Randy Bucknoff, who is both administrator of the group and of Fox's website. Fox (at 90 years of age) met with President Obama in Washington, D.C. at a 2015 event in the Israeli Embassy. He died on January 24, 2021, of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

-related

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...

, at the age of 95.

The Bob McAllister years

Following the frequent turnover of hosts throughout the 1950s, ''Wonderama'' experienced its greatest viewership by way of one-time

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

kids' show host Bob McAllister, who replaced Sonny Fox as host in 1967 and remained in that role until 1977. Each show's taping included (but was not necessarily limited to) education, music, audience participation, games, interviews, and cartoon shorts. The program aired for three hours, including several breaks to allow for cartoon insertions. On most of Metromedia's stations, these would be Warner Bros. cartoons from the 1940s and 1950s. On KMBC in Kansas City, an ABC affiliate, the show only ran two hours without the cartoon inserts (since this station did not own broadcast rights to cartoon shorts). The program's closing theme song, sung by McAllister, was called " Kids Are People Too", which was later adapted as the show's title when ABC picked it up as a Sunday morning kids show. The song was also featured on an album of music from ''Wonderama'' by McAllister called ''Oh, Gee, it's Great to be a Kid''.

Features

Popular features of ''Wonderama'' during the McAllister years included the following: *" Snake Cans": the classic game in which Bob would pick kids from the audience one by one to open one of ten cans, nine of which were filled with spring-loaded "snakes". The tenth one contained an artificial flower bouquet, which earned the holder the grand prize (usually a Ross Apollo bicycle), along with other prizes for answering trivia questions. *"Wonderama A Go-Go" (later called "Disco City", and currently known as "Dance Emergency"): a dance contest similar in style to ''

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'', abbreviated ''AB'', is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the pr ...

'', in which the best dancer won a prize. After it was renamed "Disco City", each contestant did his or her own dance to the same record; the record was introduced at the beginning of the segment by The Disco Kid, a boy dressed in a costume reminiscent of The Lone Ranger. Originally, The Disco Kid's theme was a loop of the chorus from

The Raspberries The Raspberries were an American pop rock band formed in 1970 from Cleveland, Ohio. They had a run of success in the early 1970s music scene with their pop rock sound, which AllMusic later described as featuring "exquisitely crafted melodies a ...

' "

Overnight Sensation ''Overnight Sensation'' is the thirteenth studio album by British rock band Motörhead. It was released on 15 October 1996 via Steamhammer, their second on the label. It is their first studio album to not feature guitarist Würzel, and returni ...

", but this was later replaced with the song "Ride On, Disco Kid". *"Does Anybody Here Have an Aardvark?": a song which Bob sang before a segment asking members of the audience to produce unusual objects for prizes. This usually occurred at the beginning of the show. *"Exercise, Exercise!": this most often included jumping jacks and three-way burpees, involving all the kids in the audience. The segment had its own theme song: ::Exercise, exercise! ::Come on everybody do your exercise! ::Exercise, exercise! ::Come on everybody do your exercise! *"Good News": audience members were selected to read "good" news items from around the country before McAllister sang a song: ::Have you heard any good news today, today? ::I wanna hear what you have to say, ::wait till I get to the count of three, ::and tell me all the good news you have for me, one-two-three! :After singing, Bob would ask audience members for their own good news. *"Guess Your Best": a game show segment in which three contestants made predictions of the outcome of audience polls and relay races. McAllister hosted the game, using the pseudonym ''Bert Beautiful''. *"Eye Spy" (aka "Disguise Delimit"): A masquerade game, in which five pre-selected kids, all pretending to be the same person and all wearing the same type of costume, were ushered on stage, and an audience member was selected to figure out which one was the actual person. *"Whose is Whose is Whose": contestants were introduced to four children and four adults, and had to guess which adult was which child's father. To help, the children and parents were sometimes asked to do things such as jump up in the air (ostensibly because a child and his parent might jump in a similar style). McAllister adopted a silly pseudonym for this segment as well, calling himself either ''Chuck Chuckles'' or ''Chuck Roast''. *"Head Of The House": selected kids took part in a series of quirky competitions, including gerbil races, balloon-breaking contests, and so forth. The child who won the most events or scored the most points was crowned the Head of the House.

Parting gifts

Each week, audience members received a package of parting gifts as detailed on the show, containing varying items, including the following: *A Lactona toothbrush *An issue of '' Dynamite Magazine'' or ''Golden Magazine'' *A supply of Good Humor ice cream *A box of

Hostess Twinkies A Twinkie is an American snack cake, described as "golden sponge cake with a creamy filling". It was formerly made and distributed by Hostess Brands. The brand is currently owned by Hostess Brands, Inc. (), having been formerly owned by private ...

*A 6-pack of RC Cola *A Goo Goo Cluster candy bar *A tube of Hold! cough lozenges *A package of

Fruit Stripe Fruit Stripe is an artificially and naturally flavored fruit chewing gum. The individual pieces of gum have stripes marked on them, and it is packaged in zebra-striped wrappers, which also act as temporary tattoos. History The "Five Flavor Gum" ...

Gum *A gift certificate for

Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based restaurant ch ...

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

*Nandy Candy, a chocolate bar containing fruit (McAllister would stretch out the pronunciation, i.e., "Naaaandy Caaaaandy") *A pack of Lender's Bagelettes; each child also got a necklace made from a real, shellacked Lenders Bagelette, which had either their name or their last initial painted on it *A

45 rpm record In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separa ...

of one of the music artists who had performed on the ''Wonderama'' episode that week *Harvey Comics comic books

Guests

Top stars from all genres of entertainment (music, movies, television, etc.) made appearances on New York-based ''Wonderama'', including the following: * Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes *

The Sylvers The Sylvers were an American R&B family vocal group from Watts, Los Angeles, California. The Sylvers were a popular act during the 1970s, recording the hit singles "Fool's Paradise", " Boogie Fever", and " Hot Line". Prior to becoming the Syl ...

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The grou ...

Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...

Jodie Foster Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster (born November 19, 1962) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, three British Academy Film Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and the hono ...

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...

* Neil Sedaka *

Roger Daltrey Roger Harry Daltrey (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer, musician and actor. He is a co-founder and the lead singer of the rock band The Who. Daltrey's hit songs with The Who include " My Generation", " Pinball Wizard", " Won't Get Fooled ...

* David Cassidy *

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, ...

and

Joe Frazier Joseph William Frazier (January 12, 1944November 7, 2011), nicknamed "Smokin' Joe", was an American professional boxer who competed from 1965 to 1981. He was known for his strength, durability, formidable left hand, and relentless pressure f ...

: in a build-up to their rematch bout, Ali and Frazier appeared in January 1974, competing in a game of marbles. * José Feliciano *

The Jackson 5 The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over fou ...

* The Amazing Randi *

DeForest Kelley Jackson DeForest Kelley (January 20, 1920 – June 11, 1999), known to colleagues as "Dee", was an American actor, screenwriter, poet, and singer. He was known for his roles in Westerns and as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy of the in the televisi ...

* Leif Garrett * Soupy Sales * Billy Crystal * Wolfman Jack * Lena Zavaroni *

Eddie Money Edward Joseph Mahoney (March 21, 1949 – September 13, 2019), known professionally as Eddie Money, was an American singer and songwriter who, in the 1970s and 1980s, had eleven Top 40 songs, including "Baby Hold On", " Two Tickets to Par ...

Evel Knievel Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel (; October 17, 1938 – November 30, 2007) was an American stunt performer and entertainer. Over the course of his career, he attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps. Knievel was inducted into the Motor ...

The Bay City Rollers The Bay City Rollers are a Scottish pop rock band known for their worldwide teen idol popularity in the 1970s. They have been called the "tartan teen sensations from Edinburgh" and one of many acts heralded as the "biggest group since the Bea ...

Ann B. Davis Ann Bradford Davis (May 3, 1926 – June 1, 2014) was an American actress. She achieved prominence for her role in the NBC situation comedy ''The Bob Cummings Show'' (1955–1959), for which she twice won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outs ...

Rosey Grier Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier (born July 14, 1932) is an American actor, singer, Protestant minister, and former professional football player. He was a notable college football player for Pennsylvania State University who earned a retrospective plac ...

* Doug Henning *

Gladys Knight & The Pips Gladys Knight & the Pips were an American R&B, soul and funk family music group from Atlanta, Georgia, that remained active on the music charts and performing circuit for over three decades starting from the early 1950s. Starting out as simply ...

* Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five * Melba Moore * Don McLean *

Richard Rodgers Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the most well-known American ...

* Maria Von Trapp *

Marvin Hamlisch Marvin Frederick Hamlisch (June 2, 1944 – August 6, 2012) was an American composer and conductor. Hamlisch was one of only seventeen people to win Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards. This collection of all four is referred to as an " E ...

Penny Marshall Carole Penny MarshallBorn Carole Penny Marshall in 1943, as per ''My Mother Was Nuts, a Memoir'', p. 10; . Copyright 2012 (October 15, 1943 – December 17, 2018) was an American actress, director and producer. She is known for her role as ...

Cindy Williams Cynthia Jane Williams (born August 22, 1947) is an American actress and producer, known for her role as Shirley Feeney on the television sitcom ''Happy Days'' (1975–1979), and ''Laverne & Shirley'' (1976–1982). Early life Williams was bo ...

Will Geer Will Geer (born William Aughe Ghere; March 9, 1902 – April 22, 1978) was an American actor, musician, and social activist, who was active in labor organizing and other movements in New York and Southern California in the 1930s and 1940s. In C ...

* Tracy Austin *

Johnny Bench John Lee Bench (born December 7, 1947) is an American former professional baseball player. He played his entire Major League Baseball career, which lasted from through , with the Cincinnati Reds, primarily as a catcher. Bench was the leader of t ...

Reggie Jackson Reginald Martinez Jackson (born May 18, 1946) is an American former professional baseball right fielder who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City / Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, and Cali ...

* Walt Frazier * Don Newcombe *the cast of '' Annie'' *

Scott Baio Scott Vincent James Baio (; born September 22, 1960) is an American actor. He is known for playing Chachi Arcola on the sitcom ''Happy Days'' (1977–1984) and its spin-off ''Joanie Loves Chachi'' (1982–1983), the title character on t ...

Donovan Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter, and record producer. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelic rock and world mus ...

* Eddie Kendricks *

Van McCoy Van Allen Clinton McCoy (January 6, 1940 – July 6, 1979) was an American musician, record producer, arranger, songwriter, singer and orchestra conductor. He is known for his 1975 internationally successful song " The Hustle". He has approxima ...

Tavares Tavares may refer to: Places Brazil *Tavares, Paraíba *Tavares, Rio Grande do Sul *Rodovia Raposo Tavares, the longest highway in São Paulo *Tavares Bastos (favela), a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil *Tavares River Jamaica *Tavares Garden ...

* Kenny Rankin *

Abraham Beame Abraham David Beame (March 20, 1906February 10, 2001) was the 104th mayor of New York City from 1974 to 1977. As mayor, he presided over the city during its fiscal crisis of the mid-1970s, when the city was almost forced to declare bankruptcy. ...

* Sam Savitt *

Lee Salk Lee Salk (December 22, 1926–May 2, 1992) was a child psychologist and author who is credited with discovering the calming effect the sound of a heartbeat has on infants.

* Henry Heimlich * David Essex *

The Hues Corporation The Hues Corporation was an American pop and soul trio, formed in Santa Monica, California in 1969. They are best known for their 1974 single " Rock the Boat", which sold over 2 million copies. Group name and background Before achieving main ...

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* Joe Raposo *

Jacques Cousteau Jacques-Yves Cousteau, (, also , ; 11 June 191025 June 1997) was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. He co-invented the first successful Aqua-Lung, open-circuit SCUBA ( self-contained underwater breathing apparatus). T ...

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* Paul Williams *

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Melissa Manchester Melissa Manchester (born February 15, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Since the 1970s, her songs have been carried by adult contemporary radio stations. She has also appeared on television, in films, and on stage. Early l ...

* Kiki Dee *

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Pearl Bailey Pearl Mae Bailey (March 29, 1918 – August 17, 1990) was an American actress, singer and author. After appearing in vaudeville, she made her Broadway debut in ''St. Louis Woman'' in 1946. She received a Special Tony Award for the title role in ...

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*The cast of ''Grease'' *

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* Tim Moore *

Rodney Dangerfield Rodney Dangerfield (born Jacob Rodney Cohen; November 22, 1921 – October 5, 2004) was an American Stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian, actor, screenwriter, and producer. He was known for his self-deprecating one-line joke, one-liner humor, his c ...

* George Barris *

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* Don Most * Colonel Sanders * Mark Wilson *

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* Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus * Marcel Marceau *

Vanilla Fudge Vanilla Fudge is an American rock band known predominantly for their slow extended heavy rock arrangements of contemporary hit songs, such as their hit cover of The Supremes' " You Keep Me Hangin' On". The band's original line–up—vocalist ...

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Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart was a supergroup, consisting of songwriting/performing duo Boyce and Hart and two members of the Monkees, Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones. Boyce and Hart had written many of the Monkees' biggest hits, such as "Last Train t ...

1980 revival

Beginning in 1980, a documentary magazine show for children, hosted by teens, ran on Sunday mornings on WNEW-TV. While this show retained the ''Wonderama'' title, it bore no resemblance to the original. This hour-long incarnation ran until 1983; reruns edited to 30 minutes aired from 1984 to 1986 on WNEW-TV/WNYW on Saturday mornings. Hosts included Pam Potillo and J.D. Roth. Guests included Rick Schroeder and the

Sugarhill Gang Sugar Hill may refer to: Places In the United States: * Sugar Hill, Georgia, a city * Sugar Hill, New Hampshire, a town * Sugar Hill, Manhattan, New York, a section of Harlem * Sugar Hill (New York), a mountain in Schuyler County * Sugar Hi ...

2017 revival

A new version of ''Wonderama'', hosted by David Osmond (son of

Alan Osmond Alan Ralph Osmond (born June 22, 1949) is an American former singer and musician. He is best known for being a member of the family musical group The Osmonds, who were discovered in 1961 by Jay Emerson Williams, Andy Williams's father, at a per ...

), debuted on

WPIX WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, it is operated under a local marketing agreement (LMA) by Nexstar Media Group, making it a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station and flagship of ...

-TV in New York wit
"A Wonderama Christmas"
special on December 25, 2016, followed by a national rollout on

Tribune Broadcasting Tribune Broadcasting Company, LLC was an American media company which operated as a subsidiary of Tribune Media, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. The group owned and operated television and radio stations throughout the United St ...

stations on January 8, 2017. The series has since returned to WNYW and its sister station,

WWOR-TV WWOR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area as the flagship of MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox flagship WNYW ...

.Channel Guide
/ref> The new revival features classic segments (such as the popular "Snake in a Can" game) alongside new show elements including "Wonder-mojis," "Cool Science" and "DJ Dance Emergency" featuring DJs Coco and Breezy, with "DJ Dance Emergency" being a revamp of "Wonderama A Go-Go" / "Disco City" from the classic show. Season 1 of the revival featured 16 episodes.

External links

*
YouTube: Kids Are People Too (theme for Bob McAllister Wonderama) '70s TVMetacafe Video of Ali vs. Frazier Marble championshipSonny Fox's official websiteOfficial Wonderama website (2016 revival)

References